Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) Read Free

logistics of homework, or the need for it, but his personality and
contagious enthusiasm helped him get out of loads of trouble. That or there
could have been a little of the Nixie charm still in his blood.
    “Ahem,” Nix cleared his throat, looked
over at Mina, and winked. “Dr. Seuss was a man passionate about animals and
clothes. He put hats on cats and socks on foxes. He was always losing his
Things so he took to numbering them. I think he may at one point have lived on
a mountain as a hermit who didn’t have a heart. And the people in the village
didn’t know Who they were…uh…the end!” Nix said with enthusiasm.
    The students had giggled throughout his
presentation, but as soon as he was done, the room erupted. T.J. and Steven
started hooting loudly and gave him a standing ovation. Nix’s face turned red,
but he bowed and jogged through a gauntlet of high fives, receiving numerous
pats on the back as well.
    The teacher just stared after Nix with a
look of utter confusion on his face. Luckily, Ever and Mina were able to
convince the school that Nix, or Nick—his new human name—was a
foreign exchange student from some far off land. Ever had to pick a country so
small no one would even know about in the hopes that it would explain his lack
of knowledge in modern culture. Up to this point it had worked, because the
teachers had been extremely helpful and lenient toward him.
    Nix’s survival of the trip to the human
plane had been a godsend, because it was the one thing that brought Ever and Mina
back together. Ever had been five shades of furious over Mina’s error in being
tricked with the Grimoire and losing Jared to Teague. She had actually still
refused to talk to her until she learned Charlie and Mina saved Nix’s life by
bringing him over. Ever had a few choice words about how dangerous and stupid
it was, but she understood. And as Mina was trying to explain the school bus to
Nix—how it wasn’t a giant
yellow beast devouring a sacrifice of young children—Ever finally took
pity on her.
    T.J. returned to his seat amid laughter
and a few claps. Mina had missed the entire thing, remembering. She’d need to
pay better attention.
    “Nan Taylor?” Mr. Morris called from his
desk.
    Mina craned her neck, surprised when her
best friend popped up from the back corner of the classroom. She had thought, since
the desk next to her was empty, that Nan hadn’t come to school today. Quite
possibly though, she wouldn’t have recognized Nan with her bottleneck glasses,
crazy ratted hair, and dark robe even if she were beside her.
    It was apparent from her dress, Nan was
trying to make a grand entrance. Her normally beautiful blonde hair was
disguised beneath a very large witch hat. Her mischievous blue eyes were hidden
behind thick glasses, which Mina could only assume were impossible to see out
of. Mina’s assumption was proven correct when Nan banged her knee against a
desk.
    Once she reached the whiteboard, Nan
turned up her iPhone, and familiar mystical music floated through the air. She
always did prefer the dramatic approach to… well, everything. Nan decided to
take a simple oral presentation and dress up as a character from the Harry
Potter series.
    Nan’s presentation was highly
entertaining and informative, and she received bonus points from their teacher
for taking the presentation one step forward with such creativity.
    Mina’s heart sank when her name was
called to do her presentation. Her hands clutched her paper, which was only slightly wrinkled from being folded and
unfolded a hundred or more times in the last thirty minutes.
    She desperately wished she had her best
friend’s confidence in front of a crowd. Mina’s feet felt like they were
encased in cement, and her heart pounded so loud and fast, she could hear it in
her head. Why did she have to be so nervous? She happened to look out the
window and saw that the clear sky had turned a dismal gray—which mirrored
her feelings of